The Grist reports on areas moving away from fossil fuels.
“Building electrification,” once a subject embraced only by energy and climate nerds, is going mainstream.
In 2019, Berkeley, California passed the nation’s first ordinance banning new buildings from hooking up to the natural gas system. That required homebuilders and developers to install electric heat pumps, electric dryers, and, perhaps most controversially, electric stoves. The city council considered it a necessary step to cut carbon emissions, about a tenth of which here in the U.S. comes from burning fossil fuels inside homes, offices, and other sites.
Less than four years later, this approach has proliferated. If you’re reading this in the United States, there’s a good chance you live somewhere that has followed Berkeley’s lead.
CBC writes that Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe claims heat pumps aren’t viable in his province because it gets too cold, but some experts say newer models work in lower temperatures even if a backup is encouraged.
Read the Globe and Mail's editorial on the reduction in emissions from oil production, despite a rise in output.
CBC News reports on loans to help homeowners make green upgrades to their homes.